Shipping giant MSC seems to have set its eyes on the rail freight terminal at the Interporto Bologna, one of the main logistics hubs in central Italy. Between unsubscribed shares and the 35% put for sale by the city of Bologna, the Swiss company might find its way to become majority shareholder.
The shares of the terminal are being sold in two ways. First, there are unsubscribed shares created after an 8-million-euro capital increase that none of the current shareholders claimed. The search for a buyer will start next week, after a meeting of the board of Interporto Bologna, according to local newspaper Corriere di Bologna.
In addition, the city is selling its 35% stake in Interporto Bologna. This decision was made in view of “a new corporate purpose for the company, no longer focused on real estate management but on a commitment to the railway and renewable energy sectors”. Selling these shares to a logistics hegemon such as MSC might thus help reaching this goal.
Corriere di Bologna also mentioned that the company might even be eyeing the 17% owned by the Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo. Adding all these shares together, MSC might end up controlling 70% of Interporto Bologna, establishing itself as the main player in a key logistics site for Italy and Europe. Some shares, including the 17.5% owned by the Metropolitan City of Bologna (the entity controlling the province) and the city’s Chamber of Commerce.
The Interporto Bologna terminal
The terminal within the Interporto Bologna logistics complex is being upgraded with the addition of five tracks to handle 750-metre trains, as well as 80,000 more square metres of surface. The project is planned to be completed by the end of this year, with an investment of 24.5 million euros approved last October.
Interporto Bologna is the ninth intermodal terminal in Europe, according to a list made by GVZ. The number of trains handled in the site has been dropping over the past few years, but the project of the new terminal should revert this trend, with a goal set of 8,000 yearly convoys managed by 2027.
MSC’s ‘second’ attempt
The Swiss shipping giant is on a quest to increase its presence in European intermodal terminals. In Italy, MSC tried to acquire majority shares in the Padua intermodal terminal within the Interport Padova, in northeastern Italy. However, the race was won by PSA, which finalised the takeover last month in a partnership with Logtainer. Outside of Italy, MSC is working intensely on buying and building terminals, especially in Spain and Ukraine.